Frequently Asked Questions about Annual Evaluations
What exactly do I send to the School Superintendent for the annual evaluation? When is it due?
Many families are confused as to what to give/send in to the School Superintendent as their child's annual evaluation. This is one of the areas of homeschooling law that is often discussed however the law is very clear as to what is required.
Each year, parents of homeschoolers are required to select a method of evaluation that demonstrates that the child, "has made academic progress commensurate with his/her ability". For each child, the evaluation will indicate whether the child has or has not made academic progress from the time period between the previous year and the current year. Other information, such as grades, grade level, or curriculum used, need not appear on the evaluation.
No matter which kind of evaluation is used, the annual evaluation is due on or before the one-year anniversary date of when the home school program was established. Check your Letter of Intent if you are unsure of this date. While some school districts request that evaluations be turned in by a particular date, homeschoolers need not follow arbitrarily set forth district deadlines.
What you turn in to the School Superintendent may vary slightly depending upon what method of evaluation you have chosen for your student. Overall, however, all evaluation reports are alike in that they all indicate whether or not the child has made academic progress for the year. While the language you use may differ slightly from that used by another homeschooler, most evaluation reports are more alike than different.
Here are several examples of what to send to the Superintendent. If you would like additional help interpreting this portion of the Statute, please check with a trusted veteran homeschooler, a homeschool leader in your community, or seek legal counsel.
Teacher Evaluation
With a State-certified teacher evaluation, you will probably be given a one-page sheet, signed by the teacher, indicating that your child has made academic progress commensurate with his/her ability. This sheet will generally contain the child's name and address, the parent or guardian's name and address, and the teacher's name and State certification number. You may photocopy this sheet and mail either the copy or the original to the Superintendent. While some teachers use a standard "form" that they have created to facilitate the evaluation process, some do not use a form and will type or print a letter instead. A standard format is not required as long as this information is printed in some fashion and signed by the teacher. Whether or not the teacher certification number and signature is required on the form has been disputed however usually the teacher will sign the document and write his/her certification number on the form.
In the alternative, some homeschoolers have chosen to retain the form from the teacher-evaluator and type up a letter themselves which they then sign and mail to the Superintendent. If this method is chosen, the letter written by the parent must state that an evaluation was performed, the date on which the evaluation was performed, and must indicate that the teacher has found the child to have made academic progress commensurate with his/her ability. In this case, only the letter from the parent will be mailed to the Superintendent, with the form from the teacher retained in the parent's file in case it is needed in the future. Either of these methods is acceptable and indicates compliance with the home education requirement.
Standardized Testing
If a parent elects to have the child tested utilizing one of the standardized, normed tests that is offered by their local school (e.g., FCAT), the child will generally be asked to come into the school to take the test. Usually, the child will be tested at the same time as the other school children however homeschoolers may ask to make other arrangements for the child to be tested separately. No matter the method, the test will be given/taken at the school and the results will be received by the school along with the results of all of the other children taking the test that year. The school will recieve the child's evaluation report (test scores) and this information will remain permanently on file with the County school board.
If this method of testing is selected for the annual evaluation, it is not necessary to arrange for the scores to be sent separately for the homeschool evaluation. A typewritten letter from the parent, indicating the test taken and the date, would satisfy the year-end evaluation requirement.
On the other hand, a parent may opt to have a test administered privately by the teacher of their choice, not through the County school system. There are many tests available and all yield different types of information, therefore parents have the option of choosing which test to give their child and who will administer the test. If private testing is selected, the results will be given directly to the parent. In this case, a parent will need to write a letter to the School Superindentent, indicating that testing had occured and that academic progess had been made. This letter would constitute compliance with the year-end evaluation requirement.
Can I use more than one evaluation method?
Yes. While only one is required, parents are free to use whatever methods they wish to track their child's performance each year. Regardless of the number of tools used to track a student's academic progress in a given year, only one measure of progress should be sent to the School Superintendent.
Can I choose to send in the one that best represents my child?
If more than one independent method of evaluation is used in a given year, a parent may elect to report the one they feel best represents their child. However, if the child has taken a standardized test at their local school, it is assumed by the County that the results of the standardized test will be used to satisfy the year-end evaluation requirement for the child. These scores will be used as the child's year-end evaluation, even if those scores do not match the results obtained by other independent testing or portfolio review that may have been used.
